For years I was resigned to the fact that it was impossible to write instrumental folk music that was political, but I think I've cracked it with this one!  Now you can make a statement even if you don't sing!

For those unfamailiar with "the tories" ... it is the nickname of the conservative party of the United Kingdom ... and they have been destroying my country since 2010 through cuts in public spending and dismantling and selling off public assets which we all value and rely on while telling us they're not doing it.  All that time the rich got richer and the poor got poorer - something which has brought many in our proud country to their knees.  

Last summer the Tories caved in to a protest political party with far-right tendencies that was so small that they only had one member of parliament and held a knee-jerk referendum which led to the wholly uninformed and financially desperate UK electorate voting for the famous Brexit which is now ruining the country yet further and these Tories don't seem to have any coherent plan about how to deal with it!

Please excuse my use of the Anglo-Saxon vernacular in the title ... it has led to some people accusing me of being spiteful, aggressive, hate-inciting and abusive which I wholeheartedly am not ... The words vulgar and unmannerly have also been used which is probably a fair cop!  If you're looking to be offended then you probably will find a way ... "Fuck" is a word used daily by the majority of people, and it can mean so many things ... but just to avoid any confusion ... the title of this tune uses the word in the following context:

Fuck [fuhk] (exclamation): Used alone or as a noun or verb in various phrases to express annoyance, contempt, or impatience.

example: (on finishing a particularly unpleasant task) Fuck this for a game of soldiers, I'm going down the pub.

example: (on discovering your government has lied to you for the fortieth time) Fuck the Tories, I'm going down the pub.

Fuck The Tories

** Best listened to through decent speakers or headphones **
Although it's layered up, all the sound on this track comes from one instrument, my Saltarelle melodeon.  It's a kind of experiment in to what range of sounds can be made other than the regular one.  My favourite effect is the pizzicato melodeon where I'm playing the reeds of the instrument in an unconventional way using plectrums ... sounds kind of spooky.  This can only be achieved once the instrument is disassembled.  In addition to that I also recorded the noise from the air button and the slightly xylophone type noise comes from knocking the bellows at different extentions to sound different notes.

Demo: pizzicato melodeon experiment (Bonny at Morn)

I thought I might as well share this here! I recently recorded it as a theme for a friend to use on their YouTube channel as intro/outro music.  If you know of anyone looking for something along these lines please share it.

Instruments: melodeons, stompbox, cajón

(apologies for deleting and re-uploading ... I put the wrong version of the track up!)

YouTube intro music commission

A beautifully haunting Welsh version of the more widely know air Roslyn Castle.  Played by John Spiers solo.

The Gentlewoman

This is a traditional morris dance tune from Fieldtown in Oxfordshire played on D/G melodeon.

Dearest Dickie

This is a tune I wrote after being inspired by the success story of Red Kites (the birds!) being re-introduced to the hills around Watlington (M40 junction 6 - if you're ever driving past there have a look).  They are magnificent creatures and have now spread widely around the entire South East of England.

Red Kites

This one was a commission for the wedding anniversary of John and Karen McIntosh.  It has not been released on an album, but it is recorded here with Jon Boden on fiddle as well.

Scotland Lane

Two trad. morris dancing tunes, the first, Ring O'Bells, is from Lichfield in Staffordshire, and the second is common to many of the Cotswold morris traditions and is related to the song melody "Just As The Tide Was Flowing".

I've arranged these for my Hohner Cornelia which is an instrument made in 1939 originally as a B system chromatic accordion.  Mine has been converted to a diatonic accordion right hand side.  This instrument is in C#/F# and the inside row is a helper row of accidentals and reversals.  The Stradella left hand (12 x 4 buttons) has been converted so that it has thirdless chords instead of minor chords.

Ring O'Bells / The Blue-Eyed Stranger

A preview of the new album from the Gigspanner Big Band, Natural Invention, which is released in April 2020.

The Gigspanner Big Band are:

Gigspanner (Peter Knight, Roger Flack, Sacha Trochet)
Edgelarks (Philip Henry and Hannah Martin)
John Spiers

Gigspanner Big Band - Natural Invention (sneak preview!)

Widely acclaimed melodeon player on the UK folk scene.  Founding member of Bellowhead, Eliza Carthy and the Ratcatchers and one half of Spiers & Boden and now embarking on an intriguing journey in to the deepest, darkest corners of the world of squeezebox.

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